Kansas State's Bill Snyder, Ohio State's Urban Meyer, Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin, Stanford's David Shaw, Notre Dame's Brian Kelly. All on the menu. Also Nick Saban. Three national championships in four years at Alabama would go where Bear Bryant never treaded. They'd give Saban a statue, except he already has one.

But ...

Bill O'Brien willingly went into a crisis situation at Penn State, facing issues no coach ever faced. The Nittany Lions were presumed to be headed for a 3-9 shambles. They won eight games. He's the pick.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Let's do the Heisman ballot in reverse order.

Northern Illinois' Jordan Lynch in third. I know Ohio State's Braxton Miller and Kansas State's Collin Klein should probably be here, but it's impossible to turn down a quarterback who somehow gets Northern Illinois to the Orange Bowl.

Notre Dame's Manti Te'o in second. The heart and soul of the No. 1 team.

But it's Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel in first. He became the frontrunner the moment he slapped around Alabama in Tuscaloosa. If God didn't want freshmen to win trophies, He wouldn't have made Kentucky basketball.

GAME OF THE YEAR

For stat-lovers, West Virginia over Baylor 70-63, when the Mountaineers made some late free throws to seal it. Or, you could take your pick of Stanford overtimes, the one it lost at Notre Dame or the one it won at Oregon.

But there is a strict NCAA rule that you can't have the game of the year without at least one SEC team, preferably two. So it's Alabama over Georgia.

FLOP OF THE YEAR

Arkansas was preseason No. 10 and went 4-8. That's hard to beat, with Michigan State going from No. 13 to 6-6 as vice-flop. Right? Wrong.

So much was expected of USC, and the Trojans came in 7-5. They get this award, in lieu of the anticipated Matt Barkley Heisman and trip to the BCS title game.

UPSET OF THE YEAR

It wasn't that Baylor beat Kansas State, purportedly the most solid unbeaten out there. It's that Baylor shredded Kansas State. The 52-24 mashing edges out Texas A&M nearly knocking Alabama right off its repeat.

SCHEDULE OF THE YEAR

Michigan was ranked No. 8 in the preseason and went only 8-4, but the Wolverines deserve a disclaimer. Three of the losses were to both teams in the BCS championship game, and Ohio State – combined record 36-1. The other defeat came at Nebraska when Denard Robinson was injured.

SURPRISE OF THE YEAR

Louisiana-Monroe got to its first bowl, Kent State got to its first in 40 years. Auburn's Gene Chizik went from the top of the mountain to the bottom faster than a skier in the giant slalom. Wisconsin smelled roses with five defeats.

But it's an easy choice. Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl was too far-fetched an idea. Wasn't it?

"By being in the MAC, I had always hoped and dreamed that I would be that one coach that took a team to a BCS game. So it's not too far for me,'' said Notre Dame's Kelly, a former Mid-American Conference coach at Central Michigan.

"It's an incredible achievement ... They followed all the rules, they got themselves where they needed to be, and I give them they credit for it.''

The Huskies' BCS-busting saga reminds us how tunes can change in college football, and not just when the band segues from the fight song to the alma mater.

Before: Critics threaten to go to court, to Congress, to the Vatican, to demand action against the closed-minded BCS, for not including outsiders such as Boise State and Utah. Unfair.

Now: How in the name of Bud Wilkinson did Northern Illinois get picked over Oklahoma? Unfair.

Friday night: Standing in a Ford Field hallway, Huskies coach Dave Doeren gave a passionate argument about accepting the fact that his team and the MAC are primetime worthy. "It's not hard for us. It's hard for America. I don't know what else I can say. We've done everything we were supposed to do.''